Oedipus

Alexander Neville’s 1563 translation of Seneca’s Oedipus was one of the earliest English renditions of Roman tragedy, playing a significant role in the Renaissance revival of classical works. Seneca’s Oedipus explores themes of fate, guilt, and self-destruction, focusing on the tragic unraveling of Oedipus as he discovers his role in patricide and incest. Neville’s translation adapted Seneca’s stoic philosophy and tragic framework to the Tudor context. Neville maintained a relatively close adherence to the original Latin text while incorporating moral and philosophical reflections relevant to his contemporary readers. His translation emphasized the Stoic ideals of enduring suffering and confronting fate, resonating with the intellectual currents of Elizabethan England.

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This edition of Alexander Neville’s translation of Seneca’s tragedy (USTC No. 506179) is held at the British Library. It is in octavo and consists of 98 pages.

The frontispiece reads: 

THE LAMENTABLE TRAgedie of OEDIPVS the ſonne of LAIVS Kyng of THEBES out of Seneca. By ALEXANDER Neuyle.

Imprynted at London in ſaint Brydes Churchyarde: ouer agaynſt the North doore of the Churche: by Thomas ColWell. 1563. 28. Aprilis.

Signatures in this edition go from Aiii to F. Signature A iii to A v are used for the Dedication; the tragedy’s page numbering restarts from signature A. The following signatures are indicated with roman numbers till the fifth page, then followed by three unnumbered pages.